As RPX previously reported, the litigation operation associated with monetization firm Dynamic IP Deals, LLC (d/b/a DynaIP) created persistent confusion in its early days, as it moved from litigation by Illinois entities to litigation through Texas entities. Some of that confusion pervades a recently unsealed order from Western District of Texas Alan D. Albright shifting potentially $600K in attorney fees against plaintiff Silent Communication, LLC and its counsel Ramey LLP in a case filed against BlackBerry, at the same time that Fiserv has asked West Texas Judge David Counts to clear away a cloud now hovering over the ownership of the patent family that AuthWallet, LLC, also repped by Ramey, has been litigating. The named inventor there has filed declarations with the USPTO suggesting that AuthWallet never actually owned that family.

Fintegrity LLC has filed separate Eastern District of Texas complaints against DXC Technology (Fenergo) (2:25-cv-00295), NICE (2:25-cv-00294), SEON Technologies (2:25-cv-00293), and Sum and Substance (2:25-cv-00292). The defendants are accused of infringing a single patent generally relates to “authorizing financial transactions” through the provision of “anti-money laundering (AML) software designed for transaction monitoring”.

In March 2024, AuthWallet, LLC filed a second set of suits—after an earlier round had been voluntarily dismissed without prejudice—against Amarillo National Bank, Cullen/Frost Bankers, and Fiserv, all in the Western District of Texas. This past week, District Judge David Counts dismissed the complaints because they failed to adequately plead direct, indirect, and willful infringement, relying on “mixing and matching different accused products in its claim charts”. The dismissal, though, is with leave to amend, and, in the Cullen/Frost Bankers case, the court denied a concurrent motion to sanction AuthWallet’s litigation counsel, Ramey LLP, under Rule 11.

Wapp Tech Limited Partnership and its general partner Wapp Tech Corp. (collectively, “Wapp”) have sued Apple together with Capital One and Cullen/Frost (Frost Bank) (4:25-cv-00230) in a single Eastern District of Texas complaint. The plaintiffs assert the same five patents, generally related to a system for developing a mobile device application, that have been in suit against the last three defendants, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. Wapp provides a rundown of this campaign, which began with a case against Micro Focus that produced a $172M jury verdict and, ultimately, a $67.5M settlement.

Eastern District of Texas Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne last week recommended denial of a motion to dismiss the complaint filed by DigitalDoors, Inc. against Frost Bank for inadequate pleading. Clarifying that it is not making a “standard-essential argument” concerning the patents asserted in this campaign, the plaintiff targets “interconnected storage systems” that “operate as a single controlled apparatus to provide secure data vaulting . . . as specified by Sheltered Harbor or its operational equivalent”. The day of the court’s report, DigitalDoors filed new complaints in the Western District of Texas, one against each of Amarillo National Bank (7:25-cv-00102), Broadway Bancshares (7:25-cv-00103), International Bancshares (Commerce Bank) (7:25-cv-00105), Northern Trust (7:25-cv-00106), Pinnacle Bank (7:25-cv-00107), South Plains Financial (City Bank Texas) (7:25-cv-00104), Texas Capital Bancshares (Texas Capital Bank) (7:25-cv-00108), US Bancorp (WestStar Bank) (7:25-cv-00110), VBT Financial (Vantage Bank Texas) (7:25-cv-00109), and Western Alliance Bank (Alliance Association Bank, Bank of Nevada, Bridge Bank, First Independent Bank, Torrey Pines Bank) (7:25-cv-00111).

Attaching an October 7, 2024 letter signed by Michelle Fisher as the CEO of Blaze Mobile Technologies LLC (BMT), Charles Schwab has asked the Northern District of California for declaratory judgments of noninfringement of three patents held by BMT (3:25-cv-02122). RPX has previously noted (see here and here) the flow of patents on which Fisher is a named inventor from Blaze Mobile, Inc.—a Delaware entity already embroiled in a declaratory judgment action filed against it by Samsung in California—to BMT, formed in Texas. Now, Charles Schwab pleads, on information and belief, that BMT “was formed as a conduit for asserting patent infringement claims in the Eastern District of Texas and in an attempt to avoid litigation” in the Northern District of California.

Plaintiff Torus Ventures LLC seems determined to find an answer, while this past Friday one of them, Dallas Capital Bank, filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings in the case that Torus Ventures brought against it last July. In it, Dallas Capital Bank argues that the claims of the sole asserted patent in this campaign is patent-ineligibly drawn, under Alice, to the abstract idea of “encrypting data that has already been encrypted”. So far in February 2025, Torus Ventures has asserted the same patent in more that 50 additional Eastern District of Texas complaints, bringing the total filed there to well above 100, a good number, but not all, of them against financial institutions.

A new campaign targets the mobile check depositing within the respective banking apps of Bank of America (2:25-cv-00146), H&R Block (2:25-cv-00148), Hilltop Holdings (PlainsCapital Bank) (2:25-cv-00150), Independent Bank Group (2:25-cv-00149), Regions Financial (Regions Bank) (2:25-cv-00151), Washington Federal Bank (2:25-cv-00152), and WoodForest Financial Group (2:25-cv-00153). New Mexico plaintiff CheckWizard LLC filed all of the Eastern District of Texas complaints, which have been assigned to Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap. The sole asserted patent here has been in litigation before, albeit briefly.

Last November, the February 2023 suit that Cardtek International filed in the Eastern District of Texas against Kroger was dismissed with prejudice after a notice of settlement. Now, the plaintiff has returned to litigation, suing Chick-Fil-A (2:25-cv-00091) in the same district over two of the same three payment system patents. CardTek targets the provision of PoS (point-of-sale) terminals “and the Chick-fil-A App, along with associated backend servers”. Jury selection in the Cardtek case against Kroger had been set for December 9 when the parties noticed their settlement.

A review of recorded assignments recently made public reveals a portfolio of fintech patents on the move, as well as a portfolio of mobile transactions patents transferred to a Texas entity under the management of an experienced monetization figure.